Yo ho, me hearties? [video] (set after steampunk pirates, but before Earth field trip])

[iamresponding]

[Rich looks a little confused. Just a little. He's lived too weird a life to look a lot confused after something like this. But he's at least a little confused about suddenly being a pirate and then turning around and finding himself back in his quarters without even a boom or flashy lights or anything. ]

So, this may, uh, seem like a really odd question.

But who else remembers being a pirate?

Comments

[enthraller]

And here I was thinking that might have just been a dream.

[It was certainly ridiculous enough for one. Saralegui's tone is dry as a desert.]

Though I thought we were supposed to be fending off the pirates.

[iamresponding]

I thought we were pirates but like the kind that get hired to fight pirates.

What're they called...privateers?

[enthraller]

I don't know. I certainly never hired pirates to deal with other pirates back home.

[iamresponding]

It's a thing in Earth history.

At least in my Earth's history. Some countries would hire pirates to fight other pirates or even ransack the passenger ships of a country they were at war with.

I'm not sure if that was the exact scenario, though. I never was that good at history.

[enthraller]

It was a "thing" where I came from, too.

[Phrasing it like that sounds awkward coming out of his mouth. Modern earth slang definitely does not come naturally.]

But that doesn't mean I ever had to resort to it.

[iamresponding]

Yeah, well, I don't know why whatever-it-was chose it, either.

And this time at least we know it's a who rather than just a what. That voice meant someone was messing with us.

[enthraller]

We can only hope. A "someone" would certainly be easier to deal with.

[Clearly, your world didn't have vague enemies in the form of somehow sentient malevolence.]

[iamresponding]

[His world totally has those! It just...has lots of other evil things too.]

We gotta try to narrow it down with the Legionnaires. Something that powerful might be something they've dealt with before.

[mirror_soldier]

I remember as well...unfortunately.

[iamresponding]

Okay, so, either a mass delusion oooor we actually were there. I'm banking more for "actually were there."

[mirror_soldier]

I would assume so. You were part of the pirates hunting down the other ship?

[Because yes, he is listening to the other conversations.]

[iamresponding]

Yep. I think we were...privateers or something. Pirates that hunted other pirates.

[mirror_soldier]

You were on the privateers side?

[It wasn't quite a question, as the answer was obvious, rather a reaffirmation that he had really been placed on the wrong side of that fight.]

[iamresponding]

Yeah. Most of us were on the privateer side of things. Weren't you?

[mirror_soldier]

[There's a moment where he considers lying, not quite sure how seriously the implications of that might be taken, but he's pretty much all but outright stated it already.]

No. I was with the pirates.

When you said most of you were on the privateer side, does that mean some of the others weren't?

[iamresponding]

I didn't really see everyone there, so I don't know for sure, but no one else has said they were put on the pirate side yet.

[He considers that maybe Thad is worried it means something about him. Hell, for all Rich knows, maybe the kid was a villain back home, and he's worried about being seen that way now. Whatever the case, it doesn't matter.]

Listen, kiddo, I don't know what your history is back home in your universe, hero or villian or civilian, but even if some weird cosmic being or whatever it was got it into their head to shove you into the villain role in there, it doesn't matter. What matters is you've been cooperating with the heroes out here.

Whatever was behind that was purposefully messing with our heads. Experimenting with us. Playing games, you know? Manipulating us. The choices it made says more about It than us.

[mirror_soldier]

[Thad made a quiet noncommittal sound. If what Rich said struck any chords he wasn't letting it show.]

What my placement was meant to imply isn't what bothers me. Or at least, I'm more concerned with the idea that whatever put us there did set out to mess with us or gauge our reactions.

Do you remember it giving you instructions or information when you were pulled in to...whatever that was? Pocket universe? Alternet reality? I was given the impression it was a simulation, but all things considered, I don't know if I trust that.

[iamresponding]

Mmm. [Rich nods in agreement. He's concerned over the intended manipulation, too, and also wondering what it means.]

In my head, I got this...information. And instructions. I think it was...real. It didn't seem like a sim. It was like I knew it was real. Or whatever put us in it wanted us to think it was real.

I think it wanted us to react to it like it was reality, so that our reactions weren't fake.

Kid Q and them aren't chiming in but they might be off on a mission. Soon as they're back, we need to tell them about this, see if it sounds like any of their villains.

[leverageintceo]

Here, or back home?

And if back home, really being a pirate, pretending to be a pirate, or just being dressed up as a sexy pirate wench? And are we talking computer pirate or boat pirate?

[Beat.]

...Because I plead the fifth.

[iamresponding]

We were air pirates. On air ships. Totally tossed head first into a big pirate fight.

One minute we're here on Legion World. Wham. Next we're in some weird pirate scenario. Wham again, we're back on Legion World.

At first I thought I was crazy but apparently I'm not the only one that remembers it.